James Lyle Young (1849-1929) was born in Londonderry (Derry), Ireland, and went to Australia with his parents in the mid-1850s. After working in Australia as a station hand, Young, in 1870, went to Fiji where he was associated for five years with a cotton-planting venture at Taveuni. In April, 1875, he left Fiji on a trading voyage to Samoa. After playing a prominent part in the downfall of the head of the Samoan Government, Colonel A.B. Steinberger, Young sailed for the Marshall Islands to open a trading station for Thomas Farrell at Ebon Atoll. About the end of 1879, Young became business manager for a German firm, A. Capelle & Co., of Jaluit.

The journal describes Young's life as a trader for Capelle. His headquarters were at Guam, then the capital of Spain's settlements in the Mariana Islands. Young made frequent visits to other islands in the Marianas and also to islands in the Carolines and Marshalls. See also PMB MS 21 and 23 and the Bureau's newsletter Pambu, Dec. 1968:5, pp.1-12.

Main journal entries written from Ponape (also Pohnpei), aboard barquentine vessel "Mathilde", Lelu Island off Kusaie (also Kosrae), on board schooner "Olesaga", on board schooner "Beatrice" towards the Mariana Islands, Aguigan; at Guam; Faraulep. Other islands mentioned but illegible.